OUR RAILWAYS. The Horsebox Mystery.

Waikato Times, Volume XXVI, Issue 2167, 29 May 1886, Page 3

OUR RAILWAYS. The Horsebox Mystery.

A coRnRspoNDEST writes an follows.--I took ii horsebox from Fiankton Junction the other morning, intending to go to Wairangi, but by mistako the man who booked them did so for Rangmri, some two miles on the south side nf Wairangi. On looking ut the hut"! charges hanging up in the st.itn.n I -aw that the difference in cost between the two stations was about tenpence for the two horses. Conwquently m my innocence I said, "Oh never mind getting another ticket, we will pay excels to Wairansi." Imagine my pleasurable feelings when, on arriving at Rangiriri, I asked the guard to pull up at Wairangi and put the horses out there. He told me it would cost 8s or 10a each, he thought. I remarked ho must mean tenpence. No .such thing. It really would have cost 14-. ,8d to run two horses two miles along the road, as they had to be rebooked. Remonstrance was useless, so out the hordes came and the empty van was run along for nothing. Such is the vile system under which we suffer. Fancy 7« 4d each for two horses to be carried two miles. Again, the charges are so curious. You can take a box weighing some five tons, say, and one horse for 13s Bd, but if you put in another horse weighing- 7c\vt. or ficivt., you have to pay fls 2d for him. Of course, if I complain to the authorities, lam told "You do not understand the thing properly." Well, Ido not ! Again on applying at Hamilton West for a ticket for Wairangi I could not get one. I must take one to Rangiriri and pay excess to Wairangi. E\ce*s, of course, means more than ordinary fare. Therefore, because they do not keep tickets in the office, the general public have to suffer. Is it any wonder that we cry out "Oh for a Vail(e), to hide Four correspondent probably means " cow-hide "] our present railway system." I find that the minimum charge for horse canying is 8s 8d for one, (is Gd for No. 2, so that if a man wanted to put a horse in an empty box, going along for a mile or two he would have to pay that.